Buffalo, NY - The D'Youville men's basketball team suffered their second straight loss on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Penn State-Altoona Lions by the final score of 98-85.

Darrius Hartzog (Rochester, NY/Wilson Magnet) put the Spartans up by three nearly three minutes into the game with a made layup as both teams put up numbers early. Altoona would go on to score seven unanswered points to take the lead 11-7 before a Will Saunders (Cleveland, OH/Euclid) made layup tied the game at 13 several minutes later. At the 11:45 mark of the first, Brian Sharp (Newark, NY/Newark) would drill a three to give D'Youville the lead as neither team would score for nearly a minute and a half. 

The two teams would go back-and-forth with neither team going ahead by more than a basket until the Lions went up by five with 6:18 to go in the half. Altoona would extend their lead to 10 less than a minute later before a Hartzog layup pulled the team to within five at 31-36. As the half drew to a close, Altoona would push their lead back out to seven as they led 47-40 after 20 minutes of play. 

D'Youville would cut their deficit to five early in the second as Grant Beyer (Williamsville, NY/St. Joe's) converted a four-point play just over a minute in. Over the next several minutes, the Lions would regain their double-digit lead and maintain that lead for an extended period of time. With 5:02 to go in regulation, a Hartzog made free throw made it a six-point game. However, that would be the closest the Spartans were able to get to the Altoona lead as the Lions took the game 98-85.

The Spartans had five players score in double-figures, led by Saunders with 19. Hartzong added 16 points with seven rebounds and four steals while Juan Miguel Rosales (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Village School) scored 14 off the bench with a team-high 11 rebounds and three steals. Devon Darrell (Lockport, NY/Lockport) and Beyer each scored 11 points with Darrell dishing out a team-leading six assists.

Sharp added nine points off the bench with Simeon Heard (Rochester, NY/Charles Finney) scoring five. Latrell Butler (Olean, NY/Olean) and Noah Denz (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) grabbed a combined four rebounds.

The next game for the men will be on Wednesday, January 29 at Medaille with tip-off scheduled for 6:00pm.